Disclosure: I was invited to attend the preview event, which included complimentary food and attractions. However, all opinions are my own honest opinions.

My family and I were invited to attend a preview event before the official opening of the newest Main Event Entertainment location in Warrenville, IL. We were excited to find out more about this entertainment center. Especially with the weather getting cooler, we are always looking for more indoor activities to add to our list.

About Main Event Entertainment:

Main Event Entertainment is a state-of-the-art entertainment destination that packs in tons of fun for everyone, all under one roof with cutting-edge bowling, multi-level laser tag, Gravity ropes, games, billiards and more. Main Event is the fastest growing family entertainment center in the U.S. The new Warrenville center located at 28248 Diehl Road is the 17th location nationwide and the first location in Illinois. Main Event’s dining options include a pizza restaurant with hand tossed pizzas and gelato as well as American casual dining with classic sandwiches, burgers and entrees and a full bar. Main Event is open on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11 a.m. to midnight, Monday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.

My review:

First of all, I think they used the space very well to incorporate all of the things they have to offer. I like that there are multiple places where you can sit down and eat. On the lower level, there’s a dining area near the bar, billiards and bowling. There’s even a dining area on the side of the bowling alley, so you can catch all of the action! When the weather is nice, you can dine outside in the patio area. The food is reasonably priced, with kids’ meals starting at only $4.99. My favorite thing to eat there is the gelato – I’m partial to the chocolate one, but they have a good selection.

My family and I liked the arcade game section. There are games for all ages. Each of my kids, ages 6, 9, 10, and 11, were able to find games that were age-appropriate. My son and I battled it out in a hoop shoot game. There are even air hockey tables. You purchase FUNcards and reload them to play the games. Right above the arcade are the Gravity Ropes. This is the favorite attraction for me and my 11 year-old son. While harnessed, you can test out your balancing skills walking on a combination of ropes and steps suspended above the arcade section. I’ll admit, the first time I went up on the Gravity Ropes, I thought I would be braver, but the thought of walking on what looked like a tightrope, started to make my stomach drop a little. I ended up taking the paths with steps on them. However, my son flew through the whole course, taking a cue from Spiderman. The second time I went up, it was with my son and his friend, so I looked to them for a little guidance on how to conquer the ones I didn’t go on before and with their tips, I was able to go through the whole course. It really is a lot of fun!

My kids did Laser Tag and they enjoyed it. They are given time slots, so it makes it easier for us to enjoy the rest of Main Event while waiting. From now through November 21st, they have a FUNbination special where you can pick your play on Sundays through Fridays. It’s only $5 for each unlimited activity and includes bowling, laser tag, billiards, mini golf, and gravity ropes. (Check here to find out the restrictions to the deal.) When you need a break, you can always visit the photo booth and have some fun photos taken. They have a wide range of backgrounds you can choose from and my family all picked different ones:

Main Event is also a great place to hold a birthday party or corporate event. The upstairs has multiple rooms for birthday parties. There is also a space for corporate events, complete with televisions to beam your presentations on – not to mention the separate bar area, which overlooks the Gravity Ropes and arcade area. There are also stylish lockers where you are able to store your party supplies and gifts during your party. They have packages suitable for all ages. My son is already planning to have his 12th birthday party there.

Besides being fun for the guests, my favorite part of Main Event is that the staff also have fun. Periodically, they will break out into dance. During our visit, the staff started dancing to Cotton-Eyed Joe:

As you can see from the photo below, I recommend visiting the Main Event in Warrenville, IL, as a place where the whole family can have fun together.

Gutzy Gear is one of the hottest back-to-school items right now that allows kids to express their personality and have fun doing so. The kids can collect, trade, and change their Gutzy Gear patches to customize their look. They can be used on backpacks, scooters, laptop bags, and more.

They have a line of backpack straps, door hangers, collector’s books, hats, and visors so kids can proudly show off their Gutzy Gear patches! Visit their website to find out where to find these at stores near you.

Our review:

Our kids absolutely LOVE Gutzy Gear! They have it on their backpacks, on their scooters, and bikes. As you can see above, our girls think Gutzy Gear is stylin’. We love the fact that you can get a single patch for $2.49 and a 2-pack of patches for $4.99 at retailers such as Office Depot and Toys ‘R’ Us. The starter kits also start around $9.99, so they make affordable gifts and rewards for kids. Our kids enjoy trading patches with their friends and with each other.

Disclosure: We received one or more of the products mentioned above for free. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. Please see our disclosure policy for more information.

Kenn Viselman, the creator of The Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure (coming out today, “Oogust” 29th) believes in the The Power of Mom. So much so he and his team have been traveling around the country engaging bloggers in conversations about what constitutes quality G-rated entertainment. Other than a few wildlife documentaries and a re-release in a popular children’s movie in 3-D, Hollywood has completely ignored the youngest moviegoer. The best they give us for our kids – animated PG films – are loaded with aggression and bloodshed.

Moms (and Dads): You have the power to change what Hollywood pushes on your children. In fact, there is no voice more powerful than yours. You control the home, the family budget and your child’s welfare. Aren’t you tired of watching moms die in the first ten minutes of so many animated movies? Aren’t you tired of seeing your children confused by the aggression towards their beloved movie characters? There’s no place for such violence in a children’s movie. Enough is enough.

It’s this “enough is enough” attitude that got Kenn Viselman, the marketing genius who introduced us to Teletubbies, Thomas the Tank Engine, Noddy and Eloise, mad as h*ll. The end result: The Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure, a film that reinvents the movie-going experience. This film – basically a movie and a live show rolled into one – is the first-of-its-kind interactive family musical that encourages the audience to get out of their seats, dance, and sing. Visual and auditory cues invite the audience to “move” the action along, allowing parents and kids to interact not only with the characters, but also with one another.

The story follows the Oogieloves – Goobie, Zoozie and Toofie – as they prepare for a surprise birthday party for their friend, Schluufy. When their guardian, J. Edgar, loses the last five magical balloons in all of Lovelyloveville, the Oogieloves take action. Along the way, they meet Rosalie Rosebud (Toni Braxton), Dottie Rounder (Cloris Leachman), Lola and Lero Sombrero (Jaime Pressly and Christopher Lloyd), Milky Marvin (Chazz Palminteri), and Bobby Wobbly (Cary Elwes). The movie opens in theaters today, “Oogust” 29th.

Our review:

We had the opportunity to meet and talk to Kenn Viselman at a screening of The Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure and it was great hearing from him about how they wanted to create a movie that families could enjoy together. The best part of the conversation was when we discussed there are not many movies these days, including the ones geared towards kids, that do not contain a “bad or evil” guy, questionable language (including kids talking back to adults), and violence or scary movie effects.

Because we have kids of varying ages, our youngest child is definitely exposed to more media that is designed for older children. Being able to take her to this movie, where it has a positive vibe throughout the whole movie, and allows her to get up to dance, is why we like it. It may not be as interesting for older children, but our older kids ended up getting into it by the end of the movie.

Unlike other movies, you can also find a parent guide on the Oogieloves website that tells you more about the movie, how to prepare your child and yourself before watching the movie, things to do while you watch the movie, and how to extend the fun and learning after you’ve watched the movie.

One character that we found entertaining in the The Oogieloves in the BIG Balloon Adventure movie was Rosalie Rosebud, played by Toni Braxton. Find out why she liked being in the movie and why it’s great for kids:

Disclosure: We received one or more of the products mentioned above for free. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. Please see our disclosure policy for more information.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy for more information.

With SodaStream, you can make your own carbonated beverages at home using tap water and the SodaStream flavors.

Our review:

We found that the SodaStream was pretty easy to use. At first, we had difficulty figuring out the instructions that came with it, but once we figured it out, it was a breeze. You connect the carbonator to the soda maker, fill your bottle with tap water, fizz it with the carbonator, add the flavor of your choice, and voila, you have your very own carbonated drinks from home!

The Lemon Lime was very tasty and really did taste like Sprite. The Cola flavor was also good, but it depends on how much of the flavor you put in there for your taste.

One thing we really liked about the SodaStream is the variety of flavors, which includes Regular, Diet, Energy Drinks, Sparkling Naturals, Sparkling Tea, and MyWater Essence flavors. It’s very convenient if you are having a party or gathering where people want different beverages.

Since we drink quite a bit of carbonated beverages in our household (the adults, not the kids), this is something that is very useful for us. We hope that this will help us cut the cost of purchasing carbonated beverages over a long period of time.

The winner of this giveaway will receive:
– Fountain Jet – winner’s choice of color (black/silver, red/silver or white)
– 1 carbonating bottle, reusable for up to 3 years
– Reusable carbonator to fizz up to 60L of soda
– Variety 6-pack of popular sample-size flavors
– 3 full-sized flavors of the winner’s choice

Enter to win this prize:

To enter, complete the mandatory entry in the Rafflecopter below. Complete the other optional entries for even more chances to win!

With our busy lifestyles of going to work and shuffling our four kids back and forth, many times we are on the run and have to take a drink and snack for on the road. It’s incredibly handy for us to have a good travel mug to use for transporting both hot and cold beverages that will stay spill-proof in the car.

We had the opportunity, through Collective Bias, to visit our local Target and Walmart stores to view their selections of travel mugs and to purchase one at each store.

Before heading out, we checked to see if there were any deals regarding the travel mugs at either store, but did not see any available at this time. Since they both also price match, we took a look at some other stores’ ads to see if there were any on sale, but again, did not see any at this time.

Our first stop was to our local Target store. Initially, it was a little difficult to find the section of travel mugs. It took a couple of passes through the Kitchen section before we found them on an end cap. Once we found them, though, we were able to see that they carried mostly high-quality travel mugs in a variety of styles and capabilities. The price point for the travel mugs at Target started at around $9.00 each. We selected an Aladdin brand insulated Custom Photo Mug that holds 16 oz., is BPA free, and can be customized with your own original artwork, photos, stickers and more. We thought this would be a great way to display some of our kids’ photos and artwork. This mug was $10.49 each at Target.

While we were at Target, we also saw the hugely popular Missoni line (or what was left of it) and they do have some nice clothing and houseware pieces. We also purchased a 6-ct. pack of Archer Farms English Muffins (and we were able to get them for FREE using a coupon that was in our newspaper last Wednesday – we love FREE).

After Target, we headed to our local Walmart store, which was nearby to check out their selection of travel mugs. It was also a little difficult at first to find the travel mugs and we ended up asking a sales associate for some guidance. She pointed them out to us on an end cap in the Kitchen section and also on a shelf under some coffee makers. We also found some more on another end cap and in the Plastic Storage section. Walmart had a lot more variety than Target, with varying price points, with the least expensive starting at around $5.00 each. The travel mug we decided to purchase was also an Aladdin brand insulated Blank Canvas Travel Mug that holds 16 oz., is BPA free, and can be customized with your own original artwork, photos, stickers and more. The main differences between this travel mug and the one we purchase at Target is that this one has a twist cover vs. a pop-up cover and this one has a handle also. This mug was $8.96 at Walmart. While we were at Walmart, we also purchased the current issue of All You magazine.

Both of the mugs we purchased are working very well for us. The differences between the two are very minor and the biggest WOW! factor is being able to customize them for our needs. We are enjoying drinking our Apple Cider from Green Mountain Coffee that we made in our Keurig brewer in them!

This was what we found out during our shopping trips:

– We were able to find the travel mugs in the Kitchen section at both stores, although it took a while to find out exactly where in the Kitchen section to find them.

– There was more variety of travel mugs at Walmart, although Target carried more high-quality travel mugs.

– The prices were a less expensive at Walmart than at Target for most of the travel mugs.

– At Target, the travel mugs were all grouped together, so it was easy to see the full selection. At Walmart, we found the travel mugs in three different sections, which were not right by each other, so it was a little more difficult to do comparison shopping there.

– At both stores, checkout was very easy and we had no problems at either store.

View our ThisMoment story above to see our full shopping experience.

We’d love to know where you shop for your travel mugs and what you look for when you purchase a travel mug. Please leave a comment below to share with us and the other readers.

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias All opinions are our own honest opinions.

Sarah Woodside, MS, RD and Nutrition Business Partner at Kellogg, led the live video feed which explored back-to-school tips for establishing morning routines in light of Kellogg’s Breakfast in America survey findings.

Some of the great tips shared during the discussion are:
– Keep a Special K bar in your purse (Sarah at Water, Water Everywhere)
– Get your kids up earlier and get yourself ready before waking them up so you can have breakfast with them (Maria at A Savings WOW!)
– Some travel-friendly options for breakfast are apples, toast with peanut or almond butter and string cheese (Lisa at Mommyality)
– Have a menu of choices for breakfast in the morning posted on the fridge and have the kids pick what they want for breakfast the night before so you can be ready to make it in the morning (Kayla S)

Important things to note about breakfast:
– Both kids and adults need to eat something in the morning to refuel from sleep and refresh their energy levels for a productive day ahead (Sarah Woodside)
– As a former middle school teacher, I can’t stress enough how much it affects a child’s behavior and learning when they are not starting the day with breakfast (and a good one!) (Julie at A Year with Mom and Dad)

There are many more tips that were shared during the virtual breakfast and we invite you to take a look at them on TheMotherhood. Also, please leave a comment letting us know what some of your tips are for a successful morning routine and having a great breakfast.

Probiotics are bacteria that help maintain a healthy digestive system. Probiotics contribute to a healthy microflora and support immune system function. Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic contains 4 strains of natural beneficial bacteria: Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium lactis, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium bifidum. When taken daily, this product will help support and maintain a healthy digestive system. It also promotes gastrointestinal health & digestive system balance. (Based on a national survey of Gastroenterologists who recommend probiotics to their patients.)

Our experience with Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic:

With four children at home and what seems like a million things on our to-do list, both of us decided to try out the Member’s Mark 4X Probiotics. We’ve been using it for about two weeks now and it has helped our digestive system greatly. Between sometimes not getting enough sleep and the weather changes, we started to feel like it was taking a toll on our bodies and even started feeling like we may be coming down with colds. However, after taking the Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic for only a few days, we felt our bodies bouncing back. It definitely has made a difference for us in helping us feel less rundown and more ready to accomplish what we need to in a given day. With the Sam’s Club pack, we definitely will continue to take them because we don’t need to run out every time to get more since the Sam’s Club twin pack lasts for 3 months. We definitely would recommend it to those who want to have more of a balance in their digestive health.

Probiotics are bacteria that help maintain a healthy digestive system. Probiotics contribute to a healthy microflora and support immune system function. Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic contains 4 strains of natural beneficial bacteria: Bifidobacterium infantis, Bifidobacterium lactis, Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium bifidum. When taken daily, this product will help support and maintain a healthy digestive system. It also promotes gastrointestinal health & digestive system balance. (Based on a national survey of Gastroenterologists who recommend probiotics to their patients.)

Our experience shopping for Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic at Sam’s Club:

We went to our local Sam’s Club location to purchase the Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic. While we were there, we also had a chance to try out their rotisserie chicken that was shredded and put on a bun to make a delicious sandwich! It took a few passes through the health and beauty aisles to find the section where it was located. When we finally found it, we purchased one of the twin packs that contains a supply enough for 3 months.

Learn more about Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic and win prizes:

When: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 9-10 pm EST
Where: On Twitter using hashtag #DigestiveHealth or use the custom #DigestiveHealth TweetGrid
Who: Please follow @bigbinderblog @monicajohnson, and @JerraNalley who are the hostesses for the party

Prizes: They will be giving away a $100 Sam’s Club gift card (Grand Prize), and four sets of Member’s Mark 4X Probiotic (3 month supply). Please RSVP here (enter the URL to your Twitter profile) to be eligible for one of the prizes. All winners will be chosen using random.org from the RSVP link and winners must be present and participating in the party at the time that they are drawn as a winner, and respond within 5 minutes of being called).

We went to Sam’s Club to find some Ore-Ida fries to swap out our current fries. With the kids back in school, we’re always looking for quick, easy, and delicious snacks that they can eat when they get home from school. Since all of my kids enjoy eating fries, this is a good one to have handy.

My daughter and I had quite an adventure at Sam’s Club. There were some food demonstrations going on while we were there, so we were able to have a little bit of what would be considered a main meal, snacks, and even a little bit of dessert. It’s always fun to be there when this is going on.

While in the Frozen Foods section, we found the Ore-Ida Sweet Potato Fries by Heinz and the Ore-Ida Golden Crinkles. We purchased a bag of each one of those. We also purchased a box of State Fair Corn Dogs to go with our fries. For an extra healthy dose, we purchased a 3 lb. bag of bananas. We were quite pleased with everything we found at Sam’s Club during our shopping trip.

Afterwards, we picked up the rest of the kids from school and when we returned home, I preheated the oven and put the State Farm Corn Dogs, Ore-Ida Sweet Potato Fries by Heinz, and Ore-Ida Golden Crinkles all on one baking sheet (taking them out at various times depending on their recommended baking times) and within 25 minutes, my kids had quite a snack prepared for them!

Find out more about our Swap Your Fries adventure here:

Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a #OreIdaFries shopping mission for Heinz with #CollectiveBias. All opinions are our own honest opinions.

How many of you have kids that have gone back to school already? If your kids aren’t back in school yet, how many of you have kids that are going back to school soon?

With four kids in our household, one thing about back to school time that we definitely need to stay on top of is staying organized. Tiny Prints has many products that will do just that for us. Their back to school products span a wide variety that includes stickers and labels (you can get a different design for each student in your household if you’d like to keep them organized), emergency contact cards, notebooks and notepads, planners, teacher stationery, dorm decorations, and MORE!

We have ordered from Tiny Prints before and LOVE the quality of their products, the ability to customize the products to our needs, and especially how quickly we receive our orders.

Make sure to kick the school year off right and order your Tiny Prints products now!

In addition, we’d love to hear if you have a current back to school tradition that makes the start of the year a little more fun or are planning to start one. Please leave a comment below and share with us your traditions – this will us and others create some traditions with our kids.

This is the tradition we started with our kids this year:

Disclosure: We received a gift card from Tiny Prints in exchange for our honest opinions. Please see our disclosure policy for more information.